Man`s Identity Stolen, Causing Legal Nightmare

For Jim Gilbert, the nightmare began when he went to get his driver`s license renewed on his birthday.

By the time it was over, he had been dragged away from the license bureau in handcuffs, jailed for more than 24 hours and thrown into a frenzy as he tried to clear himself of crimes he didn`t commit.

``It was the most degrading experience of my life,`` he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fort Lauderdale police finally agreed with what Gilbert had been proclaiming all along -- that someone else had been using his identity to write bad checks.

Police are now searching for a man identified as David Baudali, who apparently got a driver`s license in Gilbert`s name four years ago and used it to open a checking account, officials said.

``It was a nightmare,`` said Beverly Nason, the police investigative aide who researched the case. ``I knew he was the wrong man as soon as he walked in the door. It really was a case of mistaken identity.``

Investigators unwittingly used the driver`s license with Baudali`s picture on it in their photo lineup last year before getting their arrest warrant on Gilbert.

``You can`t imagine how much of a relief this is,`` Gilbert, 33, an auto broker, said. ``I knew I was innocent, but no one believed me. . . . I`ve never had a checking account. So I can`t write a check to anybody, good, bad or otherwise.``

It all started about four years ago, when Gilbert`s wallet disappeared. It contained a credit card and his Social Security card, but not his driver`s license, Gilbert said.

State records show that a duplicate driver`s license with Gilbert`s name, address and date of birth but not Gilbert`s photograph was issued on March 29, 1984. The photograph on the license was of Baudali, a former co-worker of Gilbert`s at a Fort Lauderdale car dealership, police said.

It wasn`t until 1987, however, that Gilbert`s credit rating started taking a beating. He later got financial statements showing inquiries from more than 20 different stores, most of which he said he has never patronized.

Gilbert alerted his bank to tighten the identification procedure required to withdraw money from his savings account, but he did not notify police.

``If he had reported it, we could have investigated it as a fraud,`` Nason said.

Fort Lauderdale police records show that Baudali used the bogus checking account and driver`s license to pay for a $68.24 golf club at a sporting goods store in August 1987.

He returned the following day and bought a golf bag and club head covers with another check for $381.13, police said.

Gilbert said he does not play golf. His passport shows that he was in Europe when the checks were written.

Arrest warrants were issued for Gilbert shortly after the checks bounced. The warrants didn`t catch up with him, however, until Monday afternoon at a driver`s license office in Pembroke Pines, which was the same place Baudali got the illegal duplicate four years earlier, police said.

Gilbert asked a state examiner about getting a safe-driver citation on his license. He was surprised when the examiner told him about two violations on his record, one for obstruction of traffic in Broward County and one for speeding in Lake County.